Sylvie Boy, WWC Ambassador, Edmonton, Alberta
Sylvie was born in Paris, France, the youngest of five siblings. Sylvie always wanted to serve her country and joined the French Army at the age of 16 where she became a helicopter engineer and was later promoted to sergeant. She was deployed twice in Kosovo and once in Bosnia.
After eight years in the Army, Sylvie followed her dreams and moved to Canada where she obtained her commercial pilot licence. She worked all over northern Canada as a helicopter pilot/engineer on fire, exploration, and hydro electric projects. She then worked for Global Edmonton and Corus Entertainment as the pilot/engineer covering traffic and breaking news in Edmonton.
In 2009, two years after obtaining her Canadian citizenship, Sylvie realized she was missing the brotherhood from the military and felt the need to serve her new country. She joined the Edmonton Police Service working initially as a Constable in Downtown Division as a patrol officer, then with the Inner City Police and Crisis Team (IC-PACT). In that role she is partnered with a psychiatric nurse and, as a team, respond to clients in the inner-city suffering from concurrence disorders.
During her time in the inner-city, she came across veterans living on the street and suffering from mental health issues and addictions. She realized that she needed to get more involved, resulting in building relationships with inner-city agency partners to ensure that veterans were not forgotten and became involved with Home for Heroes.
In 2017, Sylvie read an article about a police officer running a marathon in full gear to raise funds for fallen members. She built up a team of female first responders: Jessica, a captain from the Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, and Amy, an advanced paramedic with Alberta Health Services. Together they ran the Edmonton Servus half marathon in full gear to raise awareness of PTSD, and to raise funds for Wounded Warriors Canada. The event was a success and may be expanded in the future.
In her down time, Sylvie enjoys photography, pencil drawing, and kitesurfing. Her passion is to trek and surf around the world, with a special love of Peru. Sylvie is an animal lover and a strong advocate of animal therapy programs. She is the proud mother of two amazing Newfoundland dogs, Shaya and Waloo.
